The New York Observer Has A Very Big Donald Trump Problem

Pouty fathead Donald Trump is a tailor-made character for the
New York Observer, which purports to monitor Manhattan's
smug oligarchy with a gimlet-eyed detachment.

And his semi-coherent presidential grumblings, which count as
news just about everywhere else, make ideal grist for the
Observer's mill. Too bad he's the owner's father-in-law.

Here's a sentence that someone ought to write about Trump: "The
Donald's incredible bullshit machine keeps churning up the
landscape, spewing forth a plume of chutzpah that might have made
even P.T. Barnum a bit queasy."

It's an attitude that the Observer has taken toward
Trump for decades, forged by former editor Graydon Carter, who
had, during his days at Spy magazine, helped brand the
man a "short-fingered vulgarian."

But lately, especially in the month or so since Trump began
loudly and stupidly asserting that Barack Obama was born in Kenya
and grunting about a presidential run, the paper has been
practically silent on the subject. Incidentally, the
Observer is currently owned by Jared Kushner, who is
married to Trump's daughter Ivanka.

Since early March, when Trump's latest eruption began in earnest,
the Observer has published just two substantive pieces
on him: A
no-frills account of his Comedy Central roast, and a critical
analysis of recent polling showing him leading or tied for the
GOP nomination—penned by a freelancer—published
this morning. Both were online-only.

But the story about how one of New York City's most storied and
familiar figures has openly embraced a racist lie? It's AWOL.

As is the one about how Trump is once again expertly manipulating
the press with empty boasts—it used to be known as a "bullshit
machine"—about running for president in a bid to get attention.
As is the one about how Trump's rarefied social circle is
reacting to his new xenophobic turn. As is the one detailing the
aspects of Trump's lavish lifestyle that his newfound friends in
the Tea Party might not identify with. And so on.

When Politico's Ben Smith and I began
noting via Twitter this week that the Observer seems
to be abdicating a historical duty to weigh in on the
intersection of wealthy dimwits, ego, reality TV, a complicit
media, and the general dumbfuckification of our political
culture, the paper's editor Elizabeth Spiers shot
back: "Guys, we are covering it! (Which you'd know if you
actually called me—or asked)," apparently establishing a new
standard for reported observational Tweeting. Spiers later added,
also on Twitter, that a "larger
piece is in the hopper." Asked to elaborate on the record,
she said only, "We're covering trump the same way we would any
other prospective candidate at this stage in the election cycle."
Last month, she devoted a detailed,
nuanced 2,600-word feature to the prospects of Rudy Giuliani,
another New York fixture and prospective candidate whose current
support appears to have been eclipsed by Trump's. Asked if his
paper would have any trouble covering his father-in-law's
political machinations, Kushner referred questions to Spiers.

Spiers is in a spot. There's not an easy answer to the question
of how your newspaper should appropriately cover your boss'
loathsome father-in-law. She could swear off Trump entirely,
publicly acknowledge that there's really no way to fearlessly
cover him in that situation, and leave it to others. But that
would be untenable if he actually does run and becomes part of
the 2012 race. Or she could fire away for as long as Kushner is
willing to put up with it. But the current strategy, with Trump
sort of loitering around the edge of the Observer's
coverage—and frequently without a disclosure of his relationship
to Kushner—while he's in the middle of what certainly looks like
another swindle, feels awkward for everyone.

And it kind of undermines the point of the New York
Observer. Which, we should add, was recently clarified and
reinforced by Spiers, who
restored its old motto to the front page: "Nothing sacred but
the truth."

Disclosure: I've written for the Observer and have
friends who work there. And Spiers served as editor of Gawker
from 2002-2003.